Free Stuff

First, an apology to Barb: we recorded this 100 years ago, and then you politely pointed out that I said the wrong month in my intro…and I never fixed it. And because I never fixed, I didn’t post it. So there you go. I’m sorry for being simultaneously a perfectionist who cannot let things go and a lazy bum who won’t correct my own mistakes. I am an enigma.

Now, for the rest of you! As Barb and I were talking on the podcast, we talked about a LOT of sites and links. So here you go!

FREE/CHEAP KINDLE BOOKS: Don’t have a Kindle? You can get a free Kindle app for your tablet! Or your desktop computer! Or your laptop computer! So no excuses, okay? You can personalize most of these to get the kind of books YOU like. And if you feel guilty about getting a book for free, you can give the author a nice review in exchange (assuming you liked it). Mason Cooley said it best: “Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.”

Need more? I always tell people that if you pay taxes where you come from, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use the ebook collection from your library. Look into it! And if it doesn’t work out, you can sign up for Overdrive to check them out yourself. It’s gotta be cheaper than buying them.

PODCASTS:

You’re maybe saying, “Who has time to sit down in front of the computer for this?” It’s so easy to put podcasts on your phone now. Live in the now, ladies–and “the now” is podcasts that we’re pretending aren’t just what we’ve been doing for hundreds of years through radio. Downcast and Stitcher are pretty good apps, if you need one.

The Moth. Oh, how I love it. You’ll either laugh or cry. Both are good. These are true stories told by the people who lived them, and they’re amazing.

How I Built This : Barb mentioned this one. Like her, I am an information junkie, so I’ll put it on my list.

Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me: If you feel like you can’t keep up with the news (like me), this will help catch you up a little with a giggle thrown in for good measure. Caution: some of it is a bit crass for little ears, because, you know, politics.

Planet Money: This isn’t about your personal finances–it’s about how economies work. It’s about why you see blue pallets everywhere, it’s about why truffle oil is so expensive, it’s about why it takes so long to do online bank to bank money transfers. Curious yet?

New Heights Church: This church has been really intentional about blessing one of our programs in Indonesia, and that’s so cool to see. Their pastor, Matt Hannan, came to Idaho and did some training for us before we went to the field. Good stuff.

The Sporkful: Sounds like my kind of podcast, thought it might make me hungry, and as we all know, eating with earbuds in is just disgusting because you can hear yourself chewing. Oh, you’ve never tried that? Well…um…

Mud Stories with Jacque Watkins: The last one seems to be about technology tools for moms, so maybe less applicable where you are, but she also had Ann Voskamp, so…

God Centered Mom: I listened to this one so much when I first had Peter. She did one on anger that had me in tears, it was so transparent and just…true.

First of all, happy belated Resurrection Sunday. I hope you were able to celebrate and rest with your families, whatever that looked like for you. For us, it looked like deviled eggs (which my kids were just SURE were ‘doubled eggs’), plastic-egg-hiding, too much sugar, exuberant church sweating, significant sports-watching and kicking back to read. Good day.

Now, down to business: my first devotional is ready to be shared! I’m really excited about this. I’ve gotten some good feedback from a few people whom I’ve shared it with already, and I hope it’ll be a blessing to you.

In that vein, I’m going to go ahead and release it for free to you, dear mamas, for the rest of April. So spread the word! Re-post, blog it, tweet it, Instagram it, forward it on to a friend or colleague now! It’ll go up on Amazon after that, and while it won’t be expensive, free is better. (We know this, mamas. Free is always better.)

There’s three formats available:

Mobi: You can read this on a Kindle or in the Kindle app on your phone or computer.

Epub: This is what you want for any other e-reader (Nook, Kobo, etc.)

PDF: This is what you want if you just want to read it on your computer, most likely. It’s the most flexible, but not the prettiest way to read it. (Yes, I really just said that. I know. I know.)

Each day also has a link to a worship song, so it may be helpful to have a version that works on your phone or tablet, rather than an e-reader. Just something to keep in mind.

It’s also going to ask for your email–that’s just so that I can follow up with you and let you know if I do another one. It’ll be easy to unsubscribe if it gets annoying, and I’ll never give it out to anyone. I promise.

This might be an interesting resource to look at–it’s a group of lessons on marriage from FamilyLife, which is part of Cru now. (Remember when it was Campus Crusade? I do. I’m old.) It’s already translated into twelve languages. Some of it’s a bit cultural (looking at pictures in a wedding album…), but I think it’s got some good foundations, some good questions for couples to think through together.

Stumbled on this and it looks cool: it’s a site for vintage clothing patterns, all for free! And since history (and pop culture) is cyclical, you can find Star Wars patterns and Wonder Woman costumes! 🙂

And if your sewing skills are anything like mine, you’ll want to get on this ASAP.

My first Christmas overseas was pretty depressing. I didn’t have kids. I didn’t have a tree (I taped ornaments to the wall in a triangle). It wasn’t snowing. I couldn’t even run my lights because the power situation was pretty bad. But I felt God tugging at my heart to really consider the holiday.

If you take out the “mas” (meaning ‘more’, in this case; I know where it comes from, don’t write me angry letters), you’re left with Christ. Removed from the commercialism, removed from the cold, what was left?

Advent.

Advent still felt like home. So pull out your pipe cleaners, mamas. Here’s a plethora of advent activities, some for you, some for your kids…but all will help you remember that if that baby was swaddled, he was sweating, just like you.